merritt



(No Model.) I y Y E-Hlets--Seet I.' M.. G. MERRIT'I'.

' TYPE. l No. 502,736. Patented Aug. 8, 1893.

(No Modem 2 Sheets-Sheet M. G. MERRITT. TYPE.

No. 502,736. I Patented AugVs, 1893.

A UNITEDq STATES PATENT OFFICE..

MORTIMER G. MERRITT, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE YOST WRITING MACHINE COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

TYPE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 502,736, dated August 8, 1893. l

Application tiled October 24, 1888. Serial No. 289,026. (No model.)

To a/ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MORTIMER G. MERRITT, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Springfield, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts,have invented certain' new and useful Improvements in Type, of which the following is a specication.

My invention relates more particularly to type for use in type-writingmachines of the bar or lever class. Heretofore such type, so far as my knowledge extends, has always been made with the shank located in the center of the letter, or in other words, with the center of the letter concentric with the center of the shank.

In type-writing machines of the bar or lever description, the bars or levers are all arranged radially about a circle, or segment thereof, and are made of equal length and so that the type on each one may be brought to the same point; namel the center of the circle or the center of the arc of the circle. This locality is usually designated as the impression or printing point. It has been found in practice that if the center of the letter is arranged over the center of the shank, throughout the alphabet, and the type-bars or levers are pivoted all at the same distance from the center of the circle or the impression point, the writing or printing will be uneven or out of line. This defect of alignment has heretofore been cured by pivoting each type-bar in a separate hanger which is capable ot radial adjustment and adapted to permit the positioning of each type-carrier of the series in a manner such that the type may be successively brought to the impression-point and print at the proper locality or in alignment. This mode of overcoming the difficulty which presents itself in the employment of type made in the manner described, is objectionable for the reason that it is expensive to provide the individual hangers and pivot the type-carriers therein, and for the further reason that it requires much time and skill to properly assemble and align type.

My invention has for its main object to make type in such a manner that the typecarriers may all be pivoted on a common fulcrum-ring or at the same distance from the impression point and yet be capable of `bringing their individual type to the printing point in such a manner that the letters of a word and other characters all strike in their proper positions or in alignment. In other Words my invention has for its object to make type for type-writing machines in a Way such that all special devices for adjusting the type may be dispensed with.

To these ends my invention consists in the features of construction hereinafter morefully described and particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a plan view of a font of type made according to rnyv invention. Fig. 2 is a plan view of a part of a font of type embracing a modiiication of my invention. Fig. 3 is a bottom view of a single type constructed in the manner illustrated at Fig. l. Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the same. Fig. 5 is a bottom view of a single type constructed in the manner illustrated at Fig. 2. Fig. 6 is a plan of a typering or top plate of a type-writing machine showing four type-carriers radiating from all quarters of the circle, and having sockets arranged to all strike at the center of said circle, each socket being supposed to contain a type like that shown at Figs. .2 and 5. Fig. 7 is a central vertical section taken at the line oc Fig. 6. Fig. 8 shows type embodying my invention as they would print the word Springfield, when each type-carrier is arranged to come to the center of the circle. Fig. 9 shows the old construction of type and as they would print the same word under the same conditions Without adjustment.

a designates the shank or body of the type, and b the printing-character, which may be a letter, numeral, punctuation-mark, or other sign or symbol.

The gist of my invention rests in having the center of the shank orV body, of each type in the font bear the same relation in position or distance to the common center of the alphabet or font. l

The common center I obtain in the following manner: I draw five parallel horizontal lines 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, as at Fig. l, and within the first and fifth lines I plot or delineate the font. Line lis employed to define the extension of the tops of the capital or upper case IOO letters and the tops or extremities of the upwardly projecting stems of the small orlower case letters, while line is employed to limit the extension of the downwardly-projecting 5 stems of the lower case letters. Theline 2 is employed to define the height of the stemless letters, as a, s, dac., and the height of the bodyportion of the stem-letters as tl, p, y, duc., while the line 4 is employed to define the bot- Io toms of the capital and stemless letters and the body-portions of the stem-letters. The distance apart of the lines 1 and 5 and 2 and 4E may be such as desired, according to the style and size of the letters to be produced. I5 The line 3 is drawn equidistant from the lines l and 5 and defines or designates what I term the common center of the alphabet or font. It is a line drawn midway between the top and bottom lines of the alphabet, or half-way zo between the tops of the capital or upwardly projecting stem-letters and the bottoms or lowest extremities of the downwardly projecting stem-letters. This line is therefore drawn not in the center of the letters but in the cen- 2 5 ter of the alphabet or font considered as an entirety, and this line is employed solely for the purpose of determining the location or position of the shanks of the type, which for type-Writing machines are made of uniform 3o size, and which may be cylindrical, polygonal or tapering, the latter being the preferred shape or form.

The letters may be properly located, widthwise, as heretofore.

If it be desired now to locate the shanks of the characters, care should be taken to have each shank occupy the same relative position to the common or universal center of the font, if in the use of the type alignment would be 4o secured. I have found in practice that the centers of the shanks may be located concentric with the common center or eccentric thereto. I prefer to have them concentric or coincident with the common center, as seen at Figs. l and 7. At said figures it will be observed that the center of each shank is positioned on the line 3, the dotted circular lines a representing` the shanks. Vhen a font of type has been made, and is arranged in a row, 5o as shown, so that the center of each shank coincides with a straight line 3, taken through the center of the alphabet, said type, when used in a writing machine of the class described (wherein the type-bars are of equal length and :reach exactly to the center of the ring), will all print at the center of the circle or ring, and if successively brought against the paper in the order delineated at Fig. S, will impress the same in true position or in 6o alignment quite as perfectly as represented in said figures of the drawings, because the common center portion of each type will register or strike coincident with the center of the type-ring or circle.

At Fig. 2 it will be observed that the centers of the Shanks are all arranged exteriorly or eccentrically of the common center, but at the same locality relatively to the common center. This locality may be arbitrarily selected, but the shank of each type should have the saine relative arrangement to the common center, so that it' all the type of the font be placed in a row a straight line may be drawn through the center of all the Shanks, and so that the distance between the centers of tbe shanks of any two type shall be the same or equal. This should be so, if true alignment in printing be desired.

Type made with the shanks eccentric to the common center as just described when used in a writing machine of the description referred to, will print eccentric to the center of the type-ring, but in true alignment. When type are made in this manner and a cylindrical platen or impression roller is employed, the letter should be arranged to have its vertical aXis travel in a plane coincident not with the center of the type-circle but with the point at which common centerportion of each type strikes.

At Fig. 6 I have shown a type-ring or the circular top-plate of a type-writing machine and have shown four type levers whose typesockets c are adapted to strike at the center of the ring and which sockets carry the eccentric type 'l`,-ct,-y,-f, all of which are represented as having been brought tothe proper position for printing. From this viewit will be seen that while the shanks of all the type may be arranged eccentric to the common center of the alphabet they may be fitted to the radially-arranged type-bars so that the com mon-center portion of each type will strike at the same point, eccentrically of the center of the type-ring as represented by the lines 3 3, and the platen should be arranged to travel on this line.

In all the views I have shown the type provided with rectangular beds or bases (Z on the under side of which is formed the shank a and on the top of which is formed the printing character b. These type are designed for use in machines employing a type-guide. In making type of this class the relative arrangement of shank and common center her-einbefore described should be observed.

At Fig. 9 is shown the word Springfield as it is written with type made with the-shank in the center of the letter, as heretofore, in a machine of the description referred to without adjusting the type-bars, or as it would be written if the center of each shank worked to the center of the circle; and at Fig. S is shown the same word as it is written with type having the shanks arranged in the manner of my invention. The former, it will be observed, is out of alignment while the latter is not.

In the carrying out of my invention, the common center of the alphabet or font may be found by other means than that shown and therefore I do not restrict myself to any mode of finding or locating the common center, to any style or size of type, or to any particular mode of making or producing the type,

IOO

IIO

3. Type for typewriting machines, consisting each of a bed, a shank, and a .prmting character and in which all of thes hanks are of uniform size and bear the same relation in position or distance to the common center of the alphabet or font; Substantially as Set forth.

Signed at New York city,inthe county of New York and State of New York, this 28th day of September, A. D. 1888.

MORTIMER G. MERRITT.

Witnesses:

JACOB FELBEL, CHARLES SMITH. 

